Documents to sell a house in 2026: the complete list

Six groups of documents are required to sell a house: identity and marital status of the seller, proof of ownership, compliant cadastral documentation, building permits, a valid APE, and — if the property is in a condominium — the administrator’s certification. Two of these are required under penalty of nullity of the deed.

The collection must be done before putting the property for sale, not when the buyer is already present. This is the most basic advice of this article and also the one that causes most sales to fail: cadastral and urban inconsistencies arise when the notary begins the checks, and at that point correcting them requires weeks that no one had anticipated.

1. Seller: identity and marital status

Valid identification document and tax code. Also required is the summary extract of the marriage certificate, which reveals the marital property regime and any annotated agreements.

The point not to overlook: in legal community of property, acts disposing of real estate require the consent of both spouses (article 180, paragraph 2, of the civil code). An act made by only one spouse is not null but voidable upon request of the omitted spouse, within one year from when they became aware or from transcription (article 184). This is an uncertainty no buyer willingly accepts.

2. Proof of ownership

Demonstrates how you became the owner and varies depending on how it happened.

• Purchase: copy of the notarized deed, registered and transcribed.
• Inheritance: the declaration of succession and the transcription of the acceptance of inheritance, even tacit. The latter is the step most often forgotten and is what guarantees continuity of transcriptions.
• Donation: the deed of donation, indicating the date on which the donor had in turn acquired the property — needed both for checks and for calculating any capital gain.

It is worth updating on donative origin: from December 18, 2025, law 182/2025 amended articles 561 and 563 of the civil code, and those who acquire for consideration no longer risk the return of the property to a forced heir. Much of what is read online on this topic still describes the old regime.

3. Cadastral documentation — mandatory under penalty of nullity

Updated cadastral report and planimetry are required. The deed must include, under penalty of nullity, the cadastral identification, reference to the deposited plans, and the declaration by the owners that the data and plans conform to the actual state. This is article 29, paragraph 1-bis, of law 52/1985, introduced by article 19, paragraph 14, of decree law 78/2010.

The declaration can be replaced by the certification of a qualified technician.

A clarification rarely properly explained: nullity is literal and formal. That is, it affects the absence of the declaration in the deed, not its untruthfulness. This does not mean that inconsistency is irrelevant — it must be remedied with a cadastral update before the deed, and has its own consequences — but it is useful to know that these are two distinct levels.

If you have moved a partition wall, closed a veranda, or merged two rooms without updating the planimetry, this is the point where you will notice it. Better to find out earlier.

4. Building permits and legal status

The deed must indicate the details of the permit authorizing construction — license, concession, building permit, or amnesty — or declare that construction began before September 1, 1967. This is required by article 46 of DPR 380/2001 for properties after 1967 and article 40 of law 47/1985 for earlier ones and for amnesties.

Here too, nullity is literal: the United Sections of the Supreme Court, with ruling 8230 of March 22, 2019, clarified that the deed is valid if the declaration exists and is truthful and refers to the property, while it is null if the declared permit does not exist or does not refer. Partial violations do not by themselves prevent the sale, but make it economically risky and can block the buyer’s mortgage.

The concept of legal status is defined by article 9-bis, paragraph 1-bis, of DPR 380/2001: it is the permit that authorized the construction, or that of the last intervention on the entire property, integrated by subsequent permits for partial interventions. The so-called Salva Casa decree, converted into law 105/2024, expanded tolerances and introduced a simplified compliance check: it affects the economic marketability of the property, not the validity requirements of the deed.

Attention to a distinction almost all articles confuse: cadastral compliance is a legal obligation in the deed; urban planning compliance as a technical report is not — it is a practice imposed by notaries and banks. Both must be checked, but for different reasons.

5. APE

The energy performance certificate is the seller’s responsibility, must be delivered to the buyer and attached to the deed, and the energy class must be indicated also in ads (article 6 of legislative decree 192/2005). It is valid for a maximum of ten years but expires earlier in case of renovations that modify energy performance or if thermal system maintenance obligations are not met.

A clarification on a widely spread but outdated point online: the nullity of the contract for failure to attach the APE, introduced in 2013, was abolished by article 1, paragraph 7, of decree law 145/2013 and replaced by a monetary sanction. Today the deed without APE is not null — but the sanction, from 3,000 to 18,000 euros, is joint and several between the parties.

6. Condominium documents

The administrator must issue, to the condominium owner who requests it, a certificate on the status of payments and ongoing disputes (article 1130, number 9, of the civil code). It is not a mandatory attachment to the deed: it is a right of the seller, which practically every buyer demands.

The reason is concrete. The successor is jointly liable with the seller for contributions relating to the current and previous year (article 63, paragraph 4, of the implementing provisions of the civil code). The condominium can therefore claim from either party. Between the parties, the expense attribution criterion relates to the time of the resolution approving them, not when the work is carried out.

Plant certifications: they are not mandatory

This is one of the most frequently incorrect pieces of information. The obligation to attach the declaration of conformity of systems to the deed, provided by article 13 of ministerial decree 37/2008, was repealed by article 35 of decree law 112/2008. It remained in force for three months in 2008 and has not existed since.

Today there is no obligation to show or attach plant conformity in the sale, and parties can freely waive it. It remains good practice to state the condition of the systems in the deed. For systems dated before 2008 without documentation there is the declaration of conformity (DIRI), provided by article 7, paragraph 6, of the same ministerial decree.

In summary

Two declarations are required under penalty of nullity — cadastral compliance and mention of building permits — and only one document is a real mandatory certification, the APE. Plant certifications have not been mandatory since 2008. All the rest serves to make the sale safe for the buyer, and it is in the seller’s interest to have it ready before starting.

If you are thinking of selling at Milano San Felice or in Segrate, document verification is the first thing we do, and we do it before publishing any listing. We can check your situation with no obligation.